Mohammed Rafique – calligraphist bowler
If you have been keeping abreast of the developments in the Bangladesh cricket team, one of the first few things you will notice is the resurgence of the art of slow left arm bowling in the form of a spinner who answers to the name Mohammed Rafique.
If anyone has grown along with the stature of the Bangladesh team, it shall be this quiet left-hander who has silenced everyone with some stunning performances every now and then.
He retains in him the dying art of slow left arm spinners, a breed so rarely found in the noisy and fast versions of the game such as the ODIs and the 20:20s.
For this cricketer, born on teacher’s day (September 5), 1970 in Dhaka, the rich tradition of this variety beckoned in the year 1994 when he was 24, when he played his first ODI against India at Sharjah in the Asia Cup. His debut was along with as many as 4 Bangladeshis. His performance was pretty decent, making a 2 with the bat at Number 8 and a good deal with the ball 5-0-15-1 isnt bad by any means.
Variety is the order of the day for ODIs, where the runs and wins count more than the manner in which they come. My first impression when I saw this cricketer in 1998 in the tri nation tournament in India featuring India, Kenya and Bangladesh was that this young man has class and the caliber in him to take him places at quick paces.
His all round performance of an aggressive 77 and 3/56 versus Kenya at Hyderabad in May 1998 set up Bangladesh’s first ever ODI win. To make an understatement at the least, Rafique has made rapid strides ever since. ODIs have always been a cuppa tea for this seasoned cricketer who has played almost every game since. Being a natural cricketer with athletic skills made him the automatic choice to play the ODIs.
His successes in the ODIs naturally prompted the selectors to put him in the top eleven for the historic first ever test for the small nation in East Asia against India in November 2000 at Dhaka. Even though Aminul Islam and Naimur Rahman stole the limelight in that test match, Rafique had a decent outing for a beginner in the world of grueling test matches against a tough opposition scoring a quick 22 and taking 3 wickets.
Success follows those who work hard and strive for it. Rafique was always a team man, ever ready to do anything to make the team win. He had his own ways of doing things, without much ado about nothing. His bowling was the classical type, with the arc of the arm coming in very clean, and flight of the delivery and the loop which it gathered as it drooped in on to the batsmen.
Even as he has always been delight for the connoisseurs of the game, his action did come into the scrutiny of the ICC; that kept him out of the national team for a while. Eventually after being cleared, now he is more than a match for the opposition batsmen. His great display of spin bowling against the South Africans in 2003 in just his third test match. He bamboozled the Proteas with the guile of a fox and the turn of a top.
He has made almost every occasion of international cricket count for him and the team. He has 4 fiver wicket hauls in tests, the most recent coming in the ongoing test against Zimbabwe.
I would rate his back-to-back 5 wicket hauls against Pakistan in 2003 at Peshawar and Multan as his best performances to date with the ball in a test series. The Pakistanis, supposed to be one of the best players of spin, faltered against this ever-smiling bowler.
His first class cricket speaks volumes of the talent level we are talking about all this time – he along with Enamul Haque (sr) are the only two Bangladeshis to have over 100 first class wickets. With 19 tests and 71 ODIs, his bowling figures are not bad at all – 66 and 61 wickets in each respectively,
His batting is a bonus – his first two scoring strokes in tests were a four and a six. (his first innings against India in the inaugural test at Dhaka 2000). His batting has always had something in it to watch and he is a keen player laying emphasis on batting as well.
He sports a magnificent and typically aggressive century for his team in the test matches, his 111 coming against the West Indians at Gross Islet in 2004 the first test of that 2 test series, which was a great series for these underdogs of cricket amongst the top half. (That series was drawn 0-0, which was spell binding). It was really heartening to see a bunch of minnows give the lions a hunt for their money, as also delightful to see the young crop of Habibul Bashar, Mohammed Ashraful and Khaled Mashud do well. Rafique also sized up the West Indian batsmen with 3 wickets in that test.
With both bat and ball doing the talking, Rafique is a potent force, a must have and a boon for the Bangladesh team, which sports an all new look. The recent series against India saw the emergence of Mushrafe Mortaza and the team has been evolving into a mighty fine unit of talent with experience.
Rafique is a very good fielder who normally fields in the deep, his throws are sharp from the outfield and that makes him a total all rounder, with the peak of his career happening even as we speak and write articles on him.
Rafique today is an experienced cricketer, a rare blend of aggressive yet reliable batting with a good profile bowling. His richness to the team suits a team, which is in the consolidation stage. At a time when granting test status to this team is questioned every now and then, it shall be these cricketers like Rafique, Ashraful and Mortaza who will come forth to set all minds at rest with resounding successes.
It is only because of the advent of test status have we seen these skillful crop of cricketers surface to the top.
Age shall most certainly creep up soon on this fine player, but the sun shines all through the year, and so do the tales of fine cricketers ring all through their lives and even after. Being one of the very few Bangladeshis in the top 50 of the cricket ratings is by itself a great honour for this cricketer who has been donning and doing his job quietly without much fuss.
I wish this top cadre player good luck and call out to him to call the shots in the field of cricket and enthrall all of us in the near future.
1 Comments:
I was in PS till grade 8 and then moved to Canada...Im now 18 years old...I dont think we would have even seen eachother in PS...how did you land in my blog??
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